I probably should not write when I’m upset. But I’m going to do it anyway. I warn that you won’t find this pleasant on this Universal Children’s Day. But I assure you, the World’s children find it even more unpleasant than you ever will. I’ve done my best on Twitter and Facebook to bring attention to these things for the past two days, but they’ve gone completely, utterly ignored. It’s all fallen on deaf ears and into blind eyes.

I’m stunned.

We all claim to care so much about the World’s children, but when they’re sitting there staring us in the face, charred to death in the latest airstrikes wherever, we really don’t.

We care so much about the celebrity who cared for these children, but we don’t care for them – the children themselves. In the end, what seems to matter to us is our own fantasies of having been somehow important to, or somehow being associated with said celebrity, even if only in spirit since he’s gone. It’s really just all about us, isn’t it? It certainly looks that way, from the lack of attention and response these things have gotten when I shared them.

But the kids MJ lived for and the world they live in? The innocents who ask: “why are we included in these adult fights? Why can’t we have a normal childhood without all this fighting and violence? What did we do to deserve this?”

The ones who are charred to death by the airstrikes? The ones who are trafficked and sexually abused? What about them? Not a word. Not one comment. I’ve posted photos. Videos. Michael’s own handwritten words. News clippings. But not one response. Nothing. Not even on Universal Children’s Day. Their innocent voices remain ignored, it seems.

I wonder what MJ would say about all this? Would he be impressed with us? He’d be heartbroken about these kids, for sure. Do his fans pretend to care because he’d want them to care – or because they really care? It appears to be more the former than the latter for far too many of them. Not all of course, but far too many. This is just something to think about as you gaze down this page at what I’m about to share with you.

First of all, Palestine (and by association what is currently going on in Gaza at the hands of Hamas and Israel). Below are some lyrics to a song that Michael wrote but was apparently never released or published:

“Palestine” – written by Michael Jackson

“Bomb shells are flying, bodies multiplying, see the children crying, what are they fighting for” is part of what Michael had written above.

A child in Gaza, the region that has been blown once again to smithereens in the past few days, asks a similar question in the following video – it’s at the very end and the video is unceremoniously cut off, as if the creator and/or the news media felt what this child had to say was unimportant. But the child’s question deserves an answer.

Can you answer the child’s question in the end of the video?

The child below was charred – possibly to death – by an airstrike in Gaza on Monday November 19th, 2012.

Child charred in Gaza airstrikes, November 2012

Is this “too difficult” for you to look at or respond to? Imagine how it felt for the child. Imagine how it feels for all of them. Whoever you might feel to be at fault in this latest conflict, this child knows nothing of adult conflicts, nor should (s)he have to. The height of immorality is that (s)he and so many others have been made to suffer (or die) for things they know nothing of and are not involved in.

And just a few moments ago, this story appeared on my twitter timeline:

Study describes range of sexual crimes perpetrated mainly against girls by male teenage gang members and older men

Thousands of children are raped and abused each year, with many more cases going unreported by victims and unrecorded by the authorities, according to an official study presented as the most comprehensive inquiry to date of the scale and prevalence of child sexual exploitation in England.

The disturbing and at times horrific study, which describes a range of traumatic and violent sexual crimes perpetrated mainly against girls, by male teenage gang members and groups of older men, was described as a “wake-up call” for safeguarding professionals by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner for England (OCCE).

It draws an alarming picture of serious sexual crimes against children: girls groomed, then drugged and raped at seedy “parties” in private homes and warehouses organised by groups of men, for profit or pleasure; assaults in public parks, schools and alleyways by gang members influenced by violent pornography, and intent on threatening, punishing or controlling young women by means of forced oral sex, and anal and vaginal rape.”

. . .

“We need to ask why so many males, both young and old, think it is acceptable to treat both girls and boys as objects to be used and abused. We need to know why so many adults in positions of responsibility persist in not believing these children when they try to tell someone what they have endured.”

Oh I know these images and stories are very upsetting and may even be an emotional trigger for some readers. But just imagine what it’s like for these kids to have to live (or die) like this, all around the world.

Should we just ignore all this because it’s “too hard” for us to look at or acknowledge or because we just don’t know what to say? If we do that, then we can be assured that this suffering will only continue. The first step to solving a problem is acknowledging that one exists. And plenty of them exist where the children in this World are concerned. These awful stories and images are only a few of them. I know too that most people feel there’s nothing they can do about these issues. One thing we can all do is:

C A R E

Care enough to look at these horrific images, and listen to the kids asking “why” and to read the stories of the hideous abuse they suffer. Even if it is hard for you to look at or listen to or read. Forget yourself for just a moment or whose side you’re on. What about THEM? How is any of this ever going to be stopped if nobody CARES enough to even notice?

On this Universal Children’s Day, you can at least do that, can’t you?

Hello? Anybody out there?

“while everyone is freaking out over twinkies, can we please take a moment to #pray for all the lives taken in the middle east ?” –Paris Jackson

While you live in your safe, warm home anticipating whatever holidays that may be upcoming in your part of the world, having plenty of food to eat, having clean water, and being able to educate and hug your children and keep them safe from the worst harm or neglect, can you at least take a moment to care about these other kids in the world that we alleged adults force them to live in?

If it matters to you, I’ll tell you that it might make Michael happy. But we should all care regardless what he’d feel about it. Because somebody still needs to.

You don’t have to say anything. You don’t have to do anything right now. But you can at least care enough to look, to see it. Even if it upsets you.

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22 Responses to “Oh, Palestine on Universal Children’s Day”

Thank you for this, Seven. It is hard to look at that poor charred body, but it needs to be on every front page b/c this is what is happening right now. 27 children have already died from the bombing of Gaza. Thank you for posting that song/poem that Michael wrote. (Can you read the first line, I can’t figure it out: “See the ‘plines’ (?) of the days of old.” )I have been watching the sorrow and suffering of Plaestine all my adult life, and I don’t know when it will end and it is very hard to endure. I want it to stop yet I feel powerless. It seems the Israelis do not try using carrots, only sticks and very harsh measures to get what they want. It is always said that positive reinforcement is more effective than punishment, that you get more flies with sugar, and so on. I wish they would try some incentives, rather than bombs, bullets, drones. Maybe we could all write to the White House about our feelings, our grief for these poor innocents. What I find so hard to understand is the logic behind such cruelty–Hamas attacks Israeli civilians, so Israel attacks Gazan civilians. They are both doing the same thing to each other, only the Israeli side has one of the top militaries in the world, thanks to USA, so they can kill more Palestinians. Self-defense must have boundaries–it cannot be unlimited permission to destroy.

Thank you, Michael, for your beautiful poem and your caring for the world and the children.

You are right, Seven! Shame on us!
This is what Paris Jackson twittered today:
“While everyone is freaking out over twinkies , can we please take a moment to #pray for all the lives taken in the middle east ?”
At least Michael is still there through his kids and cares.

We watch horrified as atrocities are being committed in Gaza and various other places around the world right now. Do we just sit and wait and hope that someone somewhere will come to their senses and do something to stop the insanity? Children are being murdered, maimed and burned right before our eyes. How long should we wait and not say anything while this continues on? What are we thinking?

We may be thinking that the suffering of those children is the suffering of “others” – as long as it’s not us or our children who are suffering we can feel sad for them for a while and then continue on with our own “normal” lives, considering ourselves to be fortunate to not be involved in that unholy mess over there in that “other” place.

We may be thinking we are powerless to do anything. If we say anything, who will listen? And what will the consequences be if we do speak out? Maybe we’re just afraid.

It doesn’t help that insidious, agenda-driven propaganda has a lot to do with the way we think and react or don’t react.

The innocent and vulnerable children and men and women who are suffering the atrocities in Gaza are not “others.” They are our children and they are our brothers and sisters on this Planet Earth and they are suffering unspeakable, barbaric acts of hatred and violence and it just gets worse. How can we not speak out?

So I am with you Seven. That makes four of us. No, six of us – Michael Jackson cared. He always spoke out for children everywhere and because he was who he was, many people listened. His was a powerful voice… And there’s Paris, Michael’s daughter.

Really, there are many people who care. The more people that do speak out, the more people will become aware of the atrocities being committed. Awareness is the first step. If we all raised our voices as one, “they” would have to listen and by “they” I mean the people to whom we give the power to govern us, whether they’re elected or self-appointed. That’s what it will take. They need to hear us, many of us.

I got cold shivers and felt close to tears, reading Michael’s song/poem. I notice very acutely what is happening in the world and often wonder if Michael’s messages about peace and equality have had anything to do with events like the Arab Spring where I saw rebels in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya making the Peace sign and moonwalking! God. I hope so. Now we have Syria. Regarding Palestine, I wrote an email to a private government office in London and hope someone had time to read it. I went to a talk a few weeks ago by a Christian group member who had visited the Holy Land and learned much I didn’t know about the history of the country. She said the people they stayed with in the West Bank were warm and hospitable. This is what I put in the email, that it all started 70,000 years ago when the Jews revolted and were thrown out by the Roman army and scattered all over the world. It wasn’t until 1,900 years later that the United Nations, backed by America and Britain, declared the State of Israel on May 14, 1948 and they began moving back into Palestine, with a complete lack of foresight. But that meant millions of Palestinians’ villages and houses were razed to the ground, and they began living in refugee camps, behind the security wall in the West Bank, in high rise concrete blocks, and in the Gaza Strip like second class citizens. It is so unfair and unjust. I asked why couldn’t new boundaries be created like in Europe so each nation had its own country and land; but, of course, that would be too naive and simplistic. After the Zionist movement was formed in Eastern Europe in the 19th century, pressing for a new homeland for the Jewish people, the Jewish people were asked if Israel could be formed in a huge empty area in Africa, but, of course, they refused. So now there are two nations trying to live in one country, and Palestine is now without a country. It’s all totally crazy. I hope this doesn’t sound too much like a history lesson. I have signed a petition on line as well. At least tonight a ceasefire has been declared. I wonder if anyone read my email? I care very much and get very angry when I hear news readers and government people call Palestinians militants/terrorists and say Palestine started it or admitted to the bus bombing, when it was not true, or have killed more civilians that the Israelis have, when it was the other way round. Sorry. Thank you and bless you for posting that.

Seven, what can I say ! I am terrified over this, watched it of course. I must say, since “that” June 25 my life changed, and I don’t watch TV anymore, nor read newspapers. I know from the radio two or three headlines every morning, not in detail, and I am aware of what is happening in the middle east. I wish I could do something, we could do something. I think, as long as we “tax payers”, in all the countries all over the world, allow military existence, allow weapons to be made and distributed, we will have these problems. Because, there lies the problem. There lies the origin of the Vietnam war, the Iraqi war, all wars and killings, happening everywhere. See, those big corporations who profit directly and indirectly (like companies specialized in re-building war torn areas- governments and politicians that get financial support) do not want a happy planet. They could, if they would like to, change their production plants into constructive, life supporting factories. But they won’t, because they are probably too greedy and shutting their eyes for what is really happening. And they keep on producing arms, which, at one point, have to be used, because they become “aged”, not according to the highest technological standards. Then there are two possibilities : they sell them to “third countries” or terrorist groups, or they try to convince their governments to start a war or conflict anywhere so the arms can be used. This enables these governments again to convince the people to keep up the military apparatus, thus asking the tax payers again to sustain the so called “defence” system” of their country. That is the circle. I have been thinking of not paying the % of my taxes that goes to the “defence” department. But alone, you can really do nothing. A Bailiff will force his way into my house, take whatever he needs to cover this lack of tax money, and nothing will change. If we were thousands doing this that would be different. But I think that we have to start to get arms out of our world, asap. Imagine, if all these means that now are used for destroying people, would be used to help people, all over the world. I think nobody would need to use violence to live a happy life. Now, the out of balance of the means, the resources and possessions, also causes a lot of resentment. Anybody has any idea how we can do something about it ? And thank you Seven for your efforts.

Thank you Seven for bringing the childrens´suffering into focus. Ofcourse for some days the TV screens were full of pictures of the fighting, but did not focus on the children. It seems that
there is no end to wars in the world.

Thank you for your passionate plea and call. Personally, I do know many of us do work for the cause in our professional and personal lives every single day – be that on a macro scale or in individual work to help and reduce the suffering and promote healing of children. So, while part of the silence may be due to discomfort, I know for a fact that many in this community are more quiet as they busily work daily on these very issues. To those quiet ones- my thank you!

Seven , Thank you for reminding us what is going on as we speak.
This is happening in 2012 on a daily basis !
We get numb or shut ourselves off the news because its too painful to watch children suffer and feel powerless.
But that will not make it go away.
Imo its the guilty conscience of the world leaders since world war 2 when they stood by and watched the shoah take place.
Then to get rid of the problem they just transfered it to the middle east.
Its always the children who pay the price.

you may or may not publish my answer. It changes nothing for me, nothing for dying children. But your article does. I was waiting ever so long to see you here again, worried if you will ever come back. And then I saw this. And then I understood that Michael was our teacher, but we are on our own now, and we have to ACT.
I can not believe none of his fans replied on Facebook. I don’t have FB account, I only follow you here, cry with you, smile with you. This time, yes, it rang a bell. To acnkowledge that I am not able to help, but not turn my head to the other side. Let it sink in, let the prayer appear, energy of our souls, maybe even that alone can save one child’s life. And then, from prayer, to charity, to being able to do something…it all starts, as you say, with not closing one’s eyes.

It is a sad reality unfortunatly. Many many children the world over are victims of violence at the hands of adults!!!This can be in war torn countries or even in their own homes. There are people who care, & dont close their eyes to it!!!!

I don’t have a FB account, but I am grateful that you posted this narrative and the images here. They are profoundly heart-rending. Gratitude to you for bearing witness. Let our prayers and actions now be focused on the alleviation of suffering for the innocent children tangled in the conspiracies and ruses of war. Was this not the deepest wish of Michael’s soul when on this earth?

Thank you for all you do to open our eyes and hearts. Don’t ever leave us.

I really do care. And know others do also. Please have faith: Michael’s followers really do care.

I don’t have time right now to send a longer comment, but will this weekend–in fact send the comment I composed on this site last week. However, when I’d finished and hit “send” it failed to post because I’d become disconnected from the internet (almost cryed).

And I’m so, so glad you’re back. You’re a vital part of Michael’s legacy and I so value your contributions. I hope you realise how much you and your invaluabe efforts were missed.

War and weaponry are now an “industry”.
There is obscene amounts of money to be made. When that happens, integrity and morals go out the window. Of course, as usual, the little ones are always the first victims. They have no voice,do they and they have no power. We know that Michael tried so hard to give a voice to children and he was silenced first by false accusations and secondly, by physically leaving us. What do we do? It is damn infuriating to see adults killing one another and children becoming collateral damage in their disputes. As Aldebaran said, these reports need a lot more media attention, but I think many have become desensitized to others’ suffering. You never hear about Haiti anymore or for that matter how the people of New York and New Jersy are doing. The coverage stops suddenly once the “rush” of the event has lapsed. But we do care, Seven, very deeply. We are just at a loss to know what to do. (So glad to see you are back posting again).

I want to add something here from Wikileaks. It is posted (for some unknown reason under the death hoaxes,though it bears no realation to these beliefs)By Sarahli,(“soldier”) about a secret vic.clip from Irak,;It was horrible to see. Then she gives the lyrics to a MJ song I have never heard or known about.It is too long to give the full lyrics and I don´t know the name of this song. It starts;Love was taken from a young life- and no one told her why-Her direction ..a dim light from one more violent crime…..How is it that you chose who are to live or die…I was able after some difficulty to get it up on youtube, but it was pretty impossible to listen to or make out the lyrics from there. You can find it on wikileaks under the death hoaxes, the one on Apr .6:th 2010. Be careful to look for this date, otherwise it is impossible to find it.

In US there was a time ,mostly in the 80:ies, but it never stopped, when people were hysterical over satanic sexual abuse. Something the infamous Dr. Stanley Katz also got involved with in connection with the McMartin Preschool scandal.He later “interpreted” the Jordan- Dr. Gardener
interview.There are satanic abuses committed all the time,mostly by men in 3-piece suits, that is financial crimes against large portions of the population in many countries.No conscience here,it is even considered good for us.One such crime was attempted against Michael too, see the contract against Michael.However most victims are the poor and especially children.Where ever there is widespread poverty children are being sold into sexual slavery allover the world. It is just more convinient and oh so exiting to blame Michael Jackson for allsorts of things

Thank you Seven for your wonderful article and for speaking the truth.
It is important that people understand the reality of the suffering innocent children are having to endure in so many different situations around the world, particularly when many of the stories are either manipulated or hidden by the mainstream media. I have been following the Palestinian situation for several years and it is heartbreaking to see what their people go through on a daily basis – being chased from their homes which get destroyed leaving them as refugees, enduring a harrowing siege in Gaza and of course unprovoked killings. I cried so many times when I have seen the bodies of Gazan children – particularly during Operation Cast Lead in ’08/09 and the most recent airstrikes on Gaza. Of course we never see these disturbing images on the mainstream media who would rather make us believe that the Palestinians are responsible for all of the violence in the region which it is quite the opposite. I have joined many protest marches and signed petitions but I still feel like we are powerless to make a change. And of course MIchael Jackson undoubtedly would have cared. In addition to the unreleased song “Palestine”, we heard him plead during the Earth Song “What about the holy land? Torn apart by creed”. I hope one day we will see a peaceful end to this conflict and that the Palestinians can finally return to their land knowing that they can enjoy basic human rights that we all take for granted. But I fear this conflict could get uglier in the years to come, especially if we don’t stand up against the governments who are complicit in the crimes against these innocent people.
Keep speaking out, someone is listening even if it is not everyone. Voices like yours are very important and need to be heard.

Oh, dear Seven! Yes, the way we treat children is horrific. The picture of that innocent, helpless child horribly burned in a bombing incident takes me back to so many instances of violence which sadly affected the innocent children. The Vietnamese girl screaming, naked, running through the streets after a napalm explosion. The searingly heart-breaking photo of little Bailey, whose lifeless body is cradled lovingly by a firefighter after the Oklahoma bombing incident and now the mind-shattering stories of carnage of first-grade babies in Newtown, Connecticut. Whether it is cultures, classes, or races waring, it is always the innocent who pay the biggest price. As I watched the reports come flooding out of Connecticut, one person spoke the most compelling words I’ve heard. When asked what can be done to prevent more of this violence, he said we must double-down on love.

When will we take that advice, Seven?

Thank you for focusing on what we all should be focusing on. May you find inspiration, hope and some semblance of peace for the coming year.

The poor innocent victims, our children. They are ALL our children, no matter what color they are, what flag they live under, what religion their culture follows… Michael would know that they are all our children. If your own flesh and blood child is an innocent victim of some violence, you never recover from it. If we also feel pain for all our children, we must act, at least in some small way, give our drop of water that can join other drops and become a waterfall. I miss Michael’s leadership.
Seven, it’s been almost a year since you have posted. I am wondering where you are. Today Michael would be 55 years old. I’m still grieving, still wishing he’d just come back. His kids need him… all kids need him, the world needs him.

First I’d like to thank you for posting this for the awareness. It is devastating & difficult for people to look at. On the other hand, there are thousands of Michael fans & groups that work endlessly supporting & helping millions of these children everyday & all over the world. Spreading Michael’s message throughout this world. There are millions of hard working volunteers that CARE. All of Michael’s fans do JUST THAT. CARE !! Not turning a blind eye. Yes, we GLORIFY. Michael. But, at the same time, carrying on his legacy by helping all his children. I do agree there are people who do turn a blind eye. But NOT True Michael fans. True Michael fans CARE & don’t turn a blind eye. Spreading his message is creating AWARENESS for these children.
Thank you for this oppotunity to post my true opinion. I can honestly say I CARE.
MORE PEOPLE NEED TO ” Make That Change “. & it starts with us. God Bless The world & All these children & innocent people affected by all the Hate.